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Abstract

We have designed, fabricated, and characterized metamaterial enhanced bimaterial cantilever pixels for far-infrared detection. Local heating due to absorption from split ring resonators (SRRs) incorporated directly onto the cantilever pixels leads to mechanical deflection which is readily detected with visible light. Highly responsive pixels have been fabricated for detection at 95 GHz and 693 GHz, demonstrating the frequency agility of our technique. We have obtained single pixel responsivities as high as 16,500 V/W and noise equivalent powers of 10−8 W/Hz1/2 with these first-generation devices.

Dimensions of the metamaterial enhanced detectors resonant at 95 GHz and 693 GHz, respectively. The left (right) part of the figure shows the 95 GHz (693 GHz) pixel schematic while the center shows an SEM of a portion of the 693 GHz array.

Response of the 95 GHz detector as a function of frequency of the incident radiation at two polarizations. (Inset, left top) Transmission spectra of the detector characterized using Terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS). (Inset, left bottom) Zoom-in view of the detector response with the polarization of the THz electric field parallel to the SRR gap (E||). The response is two orders of magnitude smaller than the response with the polarization of the THz electric field perpendicular to the SRR gap (E⊥). (Inset, right) Optical microscopy photo of one pixel of the 95 GHz detector with the two polarizations indicated.